Girls Inc.: How Long Island after-school program strives to empower girls

Girls are frequently encouraged to tell themselves “I am smart” and “I am strong.” But in programs run by the not-for-profit organization Girls Inc., girls look behind the affirmations.

They question why.

Why do they have to repeatedly remind themselves they’re smart and strong in the first place? What experiences in their lives led them to believe they’re not? Being able to talk about such ideas during the “Shadow Work” exercise has been one of 16-year-old Tamiya Houston’s favorite parts of being a member of Girls Inc. of Long Island through Brentwood High School.

“We get to open up about our lives and what we think and ask questions we are too afraid to ask anyone else,” says fellow member Maria Salgado, 16.

Girls Inc. started in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1864, toward the end of the Civil War. This year it celebrates its 160th year with 75 affiliate chapters. The Long Island affiliate, based in Deer Park, reaches an average of 850 to 1,000 girls annually through after-school, summer and community-based programs. Girls Inc. of Long Island serves fifth- through 12th-graders in 24 school-based programs in Nassau and Suffolk counties, with four of the largest districts being Uniondale, Valley Stream, Brentwood and Patchogue, says Bryanna Haywood, Girls Inc. of Long Island program coordinator. Participation is free for the after-school programs. Summer program costs are subsidized to make them more affordable; community-based programs are open to all girls. The chapter’s yearly Spring Empowerment Conference, held April 13 at Nassau Community College, was expected to draw 100 girls.  

HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES

At weekly after-school meetings at the school buildings, the girls talk about networking, college, toxic friendships and love relationships, the female body and mental health. Field trips have included visiting a law firm to meet female attorneys who talked about their careers and going to the movies to see “Mean Girls.” They do community service; during March they helped pack hygiene kits for women in shelters.

Activities are often hands-on. One session might involve talking about handling stress while the girls make their own stress balls. Another might talk about hair and skin care while the girls make their own lip scrubs.

“Affiliates focus on delivering programming that helps girls access resources and tools to reach their potential and foster a new generation of leaders,” says Renee Flagler, executive director of Girls Inc. of Long Island. “We target communities that are under-resourced, socioeconomically under-resourced.” Funding comes from corporate sponsors, individual donors, foundations and fundraising events, she says. Through May, Yoplait Yogurt is featuring Girls Inc. on its packaging, TV ads and social media marketing.

The main difference between Girls Inc. and other programs focusing on girls is the emphasis on advocacy, Flagler says. For example, the group teaches financial literacy, which includes how to invest and save as well as how, when they eventually get jobs, to appropriately negotiate to get the salaries they deserve, she says.

‘HOW CAN I BE BOLD?’

Chanelle McKenzie, now a college junior, attended Girls Inc. meetings after school every Friday from her sophomore year at Patchogue-Medford High School through graduation in 2020, and she was awarded outstanding alumna by the Long Island group in 2023. “It was really what helped me develop my self-worth, my self-esteem, and turned me into the person I am today,” says McKenzie, who is studying math and computer science as well as language and culture in Spanish at SUNY Purchase.

She says she thinks of the Girls Inc. motto “strong, smart and bold,” when pursuing opportunities. For example, when filling out an application to go on a school-sponsored journey to Colombia, she asks herself, “How can I be bold enough that they’ll pick me?” she says. And if she doesn’t get selected, she’ll pursue other options; it’s smart to have backup plans, she says. “For every one rejection, I have three other backups. I always remind myself, ‘You are strong,’” she says.

Saraf Salim, 26, is another program alumna; she attended Central Islip High School, graduated from Boston University with an undergraduate degree in biology and a graduate degree in public health and is now assistant director of the Harvard University Institutional Review Board, which approves research at the university.

Salim attended a summer tennis and wellness program held at the high school after her sophomore year, where she connected with mentors who asked her if she would like to be a peer mentor at their summer STEM program at Brookhaven National Lab.

That’s where she learned about scientific research. “I had no concept of what research was or where it could take me,” she says. While at Boston University, Salim launched an undergraduate organization for women and STEM. She says it was the skills she learned through Girls Inc. that enabled her to advocate for such a program: “It really does go back to my experience with Girls Inc., and how foundational that was for me.”

Jaeda Quiñones, 16, a junior at Brentwood High School, says she can see how the program is also already helping her since she joined at the beginning of this school year.

“For me, one of the biggest things is the opportunities I wouldn’t even have known about if I hadn’t joined Girls Inc.,” Quiñones says. For instance, she attended a fair introducing students to historic Black colleges and universities. “I may not have sought that out for myself,” she says. “There’s no such thing in Girls Inc. as ‘Your dream is too big.’ It’s just how can we make that happen, step by step.”

By Beth Whitehouse

beth.whitehouse@newsday.comBethWhitehouse1

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.